Free Shipping on all orders $35 and up

We offer standard delivery in 2 business days or less.

Delivery time estimates do not apply to large or heavy items that require special shipping
(including most TVs), items shipped directly from the manufacturer, or out-of-stock items.
Some items that ship from the manufacturer can only be delivered to addresses within the 48
contiguous states.

Delivery time for standard shipping to any of the 48 contiguous U.S. states is 1-2 business days. Delivery time for
standard shipping to Alaska, Hawaii, and Puerto Rico is 3 business days. Saturday, Sunday and national holidays are not
considered business days for delivery purposes.

Estimated standard delivery time to the U.S. and Puerto Rico

Sound bar connection and setup guide

For better TV sound and music

After earning my MA in Spanish literature from the University of Virginia, I did a little job-hopping before finally landing at Crutchfield in 2010. I spent five years as an Advisor in our Spanish/International department making gear recommendations to customers from all over the world. Back when I first started, I had a nagging obsession with my cellphone camera, which blew up into a full-fledged photography habit after Crutchfield's extensive sales training let me get hands-on with a DSLR for the first time. Aside from my dog and four cats, my favorite subjects to photograph include wildlife, nature, and the Milky Way - or anything that glows in the dark, really. I'm shy with human subjects but I love doing portraits too. I joined the Crutchfield writing team in 2015, and have been happily writing about cameras and awesome audio gear ever since.

In a nutshell: Connecting a basic sound bar to your TV is easy. But what if you want to connect your cable box, Blu-ray player, and game console to your sound bar? We'll answer the following questions:

What cables do you need?

Which jacks should you plug them into?

Which settings will you have to change in your TV's audio menu?

Which sound bar settings will help you make the most of your new purchase?

The last time I hooked up a sound bar, about five years ago, there was practically nothing to it. I had it up and going in under five minutes.

When I went down to the Crutchfield Lab to set up one of the latest models, it was a different story. This thing worked like a home theater receiver, with connections for several A/V components and lots of different ways to play music. It took a bit longer to set up, but it was worth every minute.

You can still find a no-frills sound bar you can hook up and have working in no time flat—I'll cover those here, too—but having more options is a good thing.

Now that I've gotten this sound bar hooked up, it's fun to see what it can do. Here I am taking advantage of the sound bar's Bluetooth connection to stream music from my phone.

The easy way: components connect to the TV

Are you connecting your cable box, Blu-ray player, game console, or other components to your TV? Then it’s a snap to connect and set up a sound bar. The sound bar's role in this scenario is simply to sound better than your TV speakers. An optical digital audio cable transfers the audio signal from your TV to the sound bar. You continue to use your TV remote to switch sources.

In this example, your TV has control of your input selection, and passes the audio signal to your sound bar.

Setup tips for optical digital connections

Deactivate your TV's speakers. From the TV audio menu, you'll either turn off the built-in speakers, or select "external speaker."

Scenario 2: components connect to the sound bar

If your TV is wall-mounted and your sound bar sits on the furniture below, it makes sense to use your sound bar as the hub for your A/V components. You'll only have to run one cable to the TV.

If you choose to connect your components to your sound bar, installation will take a bit longer. The HDMI connections guarantee you the best sound quality from Blu-ray soundtracks and other multi-channel formats. (That's because many TVs can't send digital surround sound formats through the optical output.)

An HDMI connection carries both audio and video signals. It lets you view the sound bar's onscreen display

Setup tips for HDMI connections

ARC (Audio Return Channel) lets you connect a sound bar to your TV with a single HDMI cable

If your TV and sound bar both have an HDMI jack marked ARC (for audio return channel), a single HDMI cable (version 1.4 or higher) is all you'll need. If your TV doesn't have an HDMI/ARC input, you'll need both optical and HDMI connections between the TV and the sound bar. You may have to activate ARC on your TV.

Some sound bars, like the Sony HT-ST9 I hooked up, offer an onscreen display to walk you through the setup process.

You're not quite done yet

Once you've connected the sound bar to your TV, it's time to complete the setup. Learn how to take advantage of all the features a sound bar offers. Let's start with the subwoofer.

If your room setup is flexible, try placing the subwoofer in different locations to find the sound that's right for you.

Many sound bars include a wireless subwoofer to round out the sound. You just need to make sure the subwoofer is plugged into the wall and switched on. In most cases, the sound bar and its subwoofer are preset at the factory to work together, so the connection is automatic. With higher-end sound bar models, you may need to activate the subwoofer through the onscreen setup menu.

Wireless subwoofers can be placed just about anywhere in the room, within about 30 feet of the sound bar. You'll get more bass if you place the subwoofer against a wall or in a corner.

Some of today's sound bars offer a variety of useful listening modes and other settings to fine-tune the sound. You can use a remote control app on your mobile device to make the adjustments.

Cool tweaks for better sound

Sound bars don't just make your TV sound louder — they also add some adjustment options. These features help you get the most out of your sound bar.

You may find specialized processing modes for movies, music, games, and sports. These can really make the sound more engaging. Give them a try.

Sync settings remove any delay between the action onscreen and the accompanying sound.

Night mode keeps the volume from getting loud enough to disturb neighbors or family members when you're watching late night TV.

Compressed music enhancement makes MP3s and streaming music sound more full and natural.

Sound enhancements like these go by different names depending on the sound bar model. You can access them with the remote control that comes with the sound bar, or possibly from an onscreen menu or remote app.

Use Bluetooth for near-limitless listening options

Bluetooth® lets you stream any music you listen to on your phone or tablet to your sound bar. If you watch a video on your device, you can stream the audio to your sound bar.

Follow these steps to stream audio to your sound bar using Bluetooth:

Activate Bluetooth on your phone or tablet.

Select the sound bar as the device you want to stream to.

Select what you want to hear, and press play.

Some sound bars, like the Sony HT-ST5000, even let you transmit TV sound to a pair of Bluetooth headphones, or to a Bluetooth speaker in a nearby room.

Follow these steps to transmit TV sound from a compatible sound bar to another Bluetooth device:

From the sound bar menu, designate the sound bar as a Bluetooth transmitter.

Select your Bluetooth headphones or Bluetooth speaker as the device to stream to.

Depending on the model, the sound bar may be muted when you transmit sound via Bluetooth to another device, or it may continue to play.

What does networking capability add?

With the sound bar connected to your network, you can stream from different online music services, and even your own PC. You'll also have access to quick firmware updates for your sound bar. Another cool aspect of networking capability is that some sound bars can work as part of a wireless multi-room music system.

Sound bars may offer both wired and wireless connections to your home network. The network connection setup will vary across models, but as long as the sound bar is connected to your router, the process is more or less automatic. Consult your sound bar's manual for specific setup information.

How do I control this thing?

For a basic sound bar without many advanced features, it makes sense to keep using your TV remote. With the sound bar connected via HDMI, you should automatically be able to use your TV remote to control volume. If you use the optical digital connection, just follow the instructions in the owner's manual to teach your TV remote to control your sound bar's volume.

Here are three different examples of sound bar remotes, to give you an idea of the wide variance between models.

Since some sound bars have more advanced features than others, the remote controls that come with them are all different. A sound bar's remote control might let you adjust subwoofer volume, for example, along with other available sound tweaks. It may be as advanced as a receiver remote, with controls for source-switching.

The menu screen on the Sony HT-ST9 remote app mirrors the options on the sound bar's onscreen display menu.

You may even be able to use an app on your phone or tablet to control your sound. Remote apps and sound bar remotes let you access settings you can't get to from your TV remote.

I purchased a Soundbar speaker from Amazon. We have set it up for the volume to be controlled by the TV remote. We also have the charger hooked up to the speaker to charge continousily. We have to reset the speaker every 2 hours because it shuts itself off. Has anyone got any ideas on how to solve our problem??

Emily S. from Crutchfieldon 7/31/2018

Hi Lonnie!
Your best bet is to contact either Amazon or the manufacturer of your sound bar to resolve this issue. They should be able to help you out (especially if it's still under warranty)!

div>

Sharon from Roseburg

Posted on 7/13/2018

All I want to say is thank you so much. After 1 hour 50 minutes my boyfriend and I finally got the new sound bar (Yamaha YAS-107) to work with our Roku 3. For us it was all solved by your simple diagram above. You may have saved a relationship here. Lol

Emily S. from Crutchfieldon 8/6/2018

I'm so glad that ended happily Sharon! I'm going to pass your comments along to the writer and the designer for the article. I'm sure they will be pleased — it's not every day you get to save a relationship!

div>

Arun from Walnut Creek

Posted on 7/5/2018

Like every other Smart TV, mine too came pre-installed with Netflix, amazon etc. and I have a sound bar connected to the TV using the optical cable. My questions is, if i play everything directly though smart content on the TV and have nothing else attached (like Blu-ray, direct TV or any sort of receiver etc.), should I use HDMI for connecting to the sound bar or the normal optical cable will work fine, since nothing else is connected?

Emily S. from Crutchfieldon 7/10/2018

Hi Arun!
That optical digital cable should be all you need. If it's not working, you may just need to deactivate your TV's speakers. From the TV audio menu, you'll either turn off the built-in speakers, or select "external speaker." We also offer free tech support with every order, so if you run into any trouble you can call us at 1.800.955.9091 to get some help.

div>

rich

Posted on 2/27/2018

good article...i've found that having a sound bar from the same mfg as the tv generally makes he connections and operations easier...case in point, i have a samsung tv with a visio bar (had good reviews) in the bedroom, but i have to use the bar remote to turn the bar on and control volume...with my new lg tv and lg sound bar they connect automatically and i control everything with the tv remote...much easier for my wife to deal with??

div>

Ashley from Exmouth

Posted on 12/30/2017

Good step by step, still can't get mine to work, other than a low hum occasionally. am taking it back to the shop !

div>

Dean & Melissa Gegwetch

Posted on 9/30/2017

Thank you so very much. We can now here our TV in the 18 wheeler.

div>

kw from Salem, OR

Posted on 7/10/2017

Wow, shouldn't be this friggen complicated.

div>

Rosemary Miner from Colfax

Posted on 3/9/2017

When using my Sony HT-St9 with my smart lg tv, the voices and their mouths do not sync together. Using the TVs sound, it resolves the problem. Why does the mouths not sync with the sound bar.

div>

Jason from Kenosha Wisconsin

Posted on 2/20/2017

I'm looking for all soundbars that can transmit to Bluetooth headphones. My assumption would be the sound would be muted on sound bar then I can listen in the headphones. I know I can do this with a cheap Bluetooth receiver plugged in to the TV, but I really want to do this via the sound bar to reduce complexity. Thanks!

div>

lorraine from forster Australia

Posted on 1/1/2017

Hi ,
I have just purchased a LG SOUNDBAR that has all the connection options on it . I have a 3 year old LG TV that has only one HDMI connection and no optical cable connection ans no headphone jack . I want to connect to connect a new Sony Blu-ray player as well ..So I connected all everything with HDMI and nothing worked so I connected the optical cord from the soundbar to the Blu-ray and I have great sound from a CD and DVD but no picture and the TV just sounds the same . Can someone help me, What can I do to get a picture from a DVD and better sound from the TV.

div>

Dan from Illinois

Posted on 12/21/2016

If you hook up a sound bar through the ARC HDMI on the TV and sound bar do you need to run your cable box, blu-ray, etc back through the sound bar? Or can you leave it connect to the TV? The ARC connection still plays the sound through the sound bar regardless if the accessories are ran through sound bar. If both options work, which is the best?

div>

jules from oceansiden ny

Posted on 12/10/2016

Thank you
You've answered some key questions for me.

div>

Cecile from Orting

Posted on 12/2/2016

I have a TV with HDMI Arc, HDMI AV In, and another HDMI. I connected a soundbar with HDMI Arc to the TV HDMI Arc. I connected my Panasonic bluray w/ HDMI Arc to TV via HDMI AV In, and cable box to the third HDMI on the TV. All is good except I don't have any sound from my bluray? What did I do wrong?

div>

Jonathan Hiott

Posted on 11/28/2016

How would I connect a soundbar to my TV with this setup:
TV only has one HDMI input, which has the Roku going into it. TV does not have ARC.
TV has optical out and coax out.
Soundbar has optical in and coax in.
My question is how will the TV output sound on the optical or coax if the TV input is selected for HDMI in for the Roku?

div>

Lynda from Tenby

Posted on 11/26/2016

Sadly, this does not help me to connect my sound bar to my TV.
Sound bar has an optical socket only.
TV has no optical arrangement.
Help please from anyone?
I also have a TalkTalk YouView box in the equation.

div>

Carol Fehring from Green Lake

Posted on 10/29/2016

Any ideas as to where to hide the power brick DC adaptor that goes with the sound bar power cord? It is quite large.

div>

Gerry from Redding, CA

Posted on 8/5/2016

Awesome step by step instructions. Thank you for taking the time to explain things.

div>

Jeff Miller from Crutchfield

Posted on 5/12/2016

Carole, I've forwarded your comment to an Advisor to look for a solution. They'll contact you soon.

div>

Carole from New Windsor

Posted on 5/9/2016

Can I connect Bluetooth headset to a Bluetooth sound bar to a TV that's not Bluetooth compatible and hear the sound from the Sound bar to the headset

div>

Don Hanson

Posted on 1/12/2016

You provided some useful comments regarding locating the subwoofer to get good acoustic performance. Any comments on the effect of location on the acoustic performance of a sound bar? How about on a shelf in front of the TV? Is it better on the wall? If I put a 36" bar in a shelf unit (say 42" wide x 12 " high x 15" deep and open in front), will there be any resonance or interaction problems with the enclosure?

div>

Carole from Queens , NY

Posted on 1/6/2016

YOU WERE VERY HELPFUL, THANK YOU VERY MUCH. . CAROLE

div>

Donald Robertson from Albuquerque

Posted on 11/14/2015

Remember the 'good old days' when all we worried about was WHO would GET OUT OF THE CHAIR and go change channels and/or fiddle with the TV volume? Those WERE the days!

div>

THE

GREAT GEAR GIVEAWAY

Sign up for our email newsletter,
then enter to win a $350 Rewards Card